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ABOUT

pin it!ON THIS BLOG
I’ll be writing about the things I love: cooking with natural, plant-based foods, eating seasonally, and sharing wholesome meals with the people in my life. Living simply, cooking, and staying connected to the earth have always been at the heart of fine living for me, celebrating the community and its efforts. A meal is nothing to take for granted, and this blog is a greater reflection of that simple idea.

ON ME
My name is Laura and I live in the Niagara region of southern Ontario. I went to culinary school, but learned considerably more about food and being in the world from working in restaurants and growing up with agriculture. I have a staggeringly huge collection of cookbooks and food-related literature.

ON THE NAME
“The First Mess” is taken from M.F.K. Fisher’s An Alphabet for Gourmets, where she refers to the arrival of the first run (or mess) of peas in early spring as “the day with stars on it.” Her sincere appreciation and thoughtful writings on food are a marvel to read, time and again.

SAY HELLO
Want to work together or just say hi? For inquiries relating to recipe development, sponsored posts, creative collaboration, events, and the like, use the contact form in the upper right of this page OR send me a note at laura [AT] thefirstmess [DOT] com. You can also find me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook too.

THANK YOU. Thank you for recognizing that food, and more specifically having *enough* food is a blessing none of us should forget about. This is why your blog is one of my absolute favorites. In each of your posts, your sense of gratitude for the food you are preparing is so apparent. I’m so glad I found your blog this past fall. I’m excited to see the creations you’ll be blogging about in 2012!ReplyCancel

Kare01/03/2015 - 3:09 pm

Ashley, almost what I thought the first time happening upon Laura’s blog…her words and recipes inspire gratitude, for not only the food – our senses & her imagination:-) ! My absolute favorite as well, Laura I’m looking forward to 2015ReplyCancel

I just discovered your beautiful blog from your guest post on Happyolks. I am in love with your photography, recipes, and food philosophy – so much like my own. I will be adding you to my “favorites” and visiting often! Thank you for the wonderful inspiration. :)ReplyCancel

Hi Laura! I hope someone tells you every single day how beautiful your photos are and that your site is truly inspiring! I’m truly amazed at how crisp and clear your photos are! Can you tell me what kind of camera you use and lenses or filters, if any? Thank you and please keep the photos and recipes coming!

What a beautiful blog! I just found you via Twitter and saw that you are Canadian – nothing makes me happier than finding fellow Canadian bloggers, who happen to be amazing! Your work looks gorgeous – I have just subscribed. Thank you!ReplyCancel

I just began my own whole foods blog and I just wanted to say yours is awe-inspiring! I hope one day mine will be as beautiful and developed as yours! Can’t wait to keep up with your posts in the future.

Was just on the spoonforkbacon site looking at their blog love page and came across your blog. So glad I found it. Great blog, will be coming here for inspiration.ReplyCancel

Fran24/01/2013 - 12:05 am

You have officially been bookmarked! Honestly, a fantastic blog. Don’t stop!ReplyCancel

Julia07/02/2013 - 1:11 pm

Hi Laura!
I’ve recently discovered your blog (via Pinterest), and I’m in love!!! Wonderful recipes with taste AND health in mind. Great stuff. I am a high school culinary teacher. I teach a program called Hospitality & Tourism to grade 9-12 students. I have sent many kids onto culinary school at Niagara College. I’m curious to know if that is where you went too?
I plan on trying your expresso scones & blueberry muffins over the weekend:)
And I just know we will be using some of your recipes in our classroom labs too! Thanks for the beautiful work. I look forward to seeing what other creative & delicious things you come up with!
Gratefully,
Julia Graham
Maxville, ONReplyCancel

Hi Laura,
I just discovered your blog through Ashley’s (Edible Perspective)instagram. All of your recipes and photos are amazing – you are incredibly talented. I just pinned a million of them and am making the carrot edamame salad with my sister tonight :)
I am also from Ontario (Toronto, formerly London) and recently started my own “whole foods” blog – The Fresh Direction. You’re such an inspiration!!
Thank you for sharing!!ReplyCancel

Hi – just come across your blog via a Tweet by someone I follow. I love it. Learning a lot about a more natural approach to food and blogs like this are really inspiring. Keep up the good work! XReplyCancel

Renee13/04/2013 - 2:39 pm

Thanks, just the kind of fun healthy recipes I have been looking for!ReplyCancel

Wow!The writing is amazing, the recipes are gorgeous and the photography is by far the best I have ever seen. This blog is honestly the best I have evr seen and I am going to read this blog purely for inspiration for my own food blog. Thank you so much for inspiring me and i am already looking forward to your next post.ReplyCancel

So Sweet…I’m excited to start cooking down your recipe list one whole food ingredient at a time!
Thanks for putting this out there for all us food enthusiasts.ReplyCancel

Rachel21/09/2013 - 7:05 pm

Hey Messy,

I just stumbled upon your blog and I am so guilty of indulging in some serious food porn because of it…your photos are beautiful. I love the warm crispness to them that shed the simple little intimacies of your life. I would love to know what kind of camera you use. Thanks for being awesome!

Ohhh so happy to have found my way here via The Year in Food! This is so up my alley. Looking forward to trying out some of your recipes!ReplyCancel

Barbara Sandham-Spies17/10/2013 - 6:47 am

*boing* Found your awesome site when googling ‘funky salads’ : I needed help u see – cos we have a little salad club at the office & me not being a ‘foodie’ needed “alot” of help – your site is a life-saver & so inspiring! Thank you – all the way from South Africa! :)ReplyCancel

Jessica24/10/2013 - 10:29 am

Your recipes will be my first dabbling into cooking for myself!ReplyCancel

Bianca25/10/2013 - 7:40 pm

What kind of camera equipment do you use? Your photos are gorgeous!ReplyCancel

Stunning pictures and website. Oh and the content of course… really delicious.
I’m sure I will get inspired whenever I write on my blog about running and natural foods ReplyCancel

Jauquetta14/01/2014 - 7:03 pm

Loved the items I have found here. I’m dairy free now for over 20 years and since last Jan. 2013, have been gluten free. Can’t wait to try your recipes! Thanks ever so much for your generosity. JauquettaReplyCancel

Kecia15/01/2014 - 6:27 pm

I just discovered your blog two seconds ago, through a pinterest recipe, and I’ve never been so instantly sold on and excited by a food blog!ReplyCancel

[…] Laura is all about sharing the simple beauty of natural, wholesome ingredients with her stunning photos. I love how she always shoots in natural light, capturing those perfect color combos and delicate textures. The First Mess has this way of making seasonal cooking look so easy, fun and organic. Let’s just say that if I ever feel inspired enough to attempt my own kitchen, it will most definitely be with one of Laura’s recipes. […]ReplyCancel

Hi Laura,
Have just copped onto your blog via an intro from Sharon Bowers. SO in love with your work and recipes. Look forward to your book!
Warm Regards,
Imen xxReplyCancel

Dianne Ounapuu30/04/2014 - 1:36 am

I recently came across a small mention of you in our local Delicious Magazine. The reference to peaches and vineyards immediately took me back to when we lived in Grimsby in the 90’s. Happy days! I’m assuming you aren’t far from there.
Now I’m in suburban Melbourne, a gardener for myself and others and foodie. We inherited some aged almonds and lemons and now have added apples, quince, pomegranate, olives, cumquat, limes and a vegie patch. It doesn’t always work out but gardeners are by nature optimists.
I’ve cooked vegetarian at various times and will keep an eye on your site in future for inspiration.
Cheers, DianneReplyCancel

Nicole Wright20/05/2014 - 5:17 pm

Hi Laura,

My name is Nicole. I live in an small house in an old, historic neighborhood of Vancouver, very close to downtown, with my husband and our dog and wait tables for a living in some really great diners.
I curate, illustrate, grow a veggie garden and tend house plants, and I love to eat. Justin (my husband) and I spend most of our time together eating, digesting and drinking, at home or in the various gems in this wonderful city.
I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderful recipes, The First Mess has been a corner stone in the last year of my kitchen experimentation, you have opened a lot of cooking alleys for me to adventure in, back doors to recipes I thought that I knew and introductions to ingredients I never thought I”d learn to love.
Your photos are MOST wonderful, totally inspirational, but more than anything, I wanted to thank you for the ability to share this blog with my mom. We both read it, and we have great conversations over your recipes, anecdotes, and (basically) your life.
It has brought joy, laughter, great food into our lives and has helped to bring us closer.
If EVER you need a place to stay in Vancouver we have a great yard to camp in and some must eat recommendations.

I LOVE your photography. I just cut and pasted 5 of your recipes to try. The butternut oricchette, the Quinoa bake thingie, the carrot cake pancakes, spaghetti squash noodle bowl. The pictures are gorgeous and these recipes are calling out to me!ReplyCancel

Hello from Madrid, Spain!
American expat born and raised not far from you in Buffalo, NY and now living in Madrid.
I found your blog while searching for Autumn chick pea stew recipes.. a big ‘ole pot is simmering as I write this – and smells Oh, soooo good!
I’m certain I’ll love your stew recipe as much as I do your writing!
Best-
Antonio De RosaReplyCancel

Sheri19/01/2015 - 9:50 am

Just discovered your blog when searching for a recipe for an Asian style spaghetti squash – made the noodle bowl with lime and peanut sauce last night and it was Delish! I will be sourcing your blog for future recipes – Thanks!
SheriReplyCancel

Hello from Moscow, Russia!
Just discovered your great blog via stunning photo with your tomatoes on FB.
Thank you very much for million wonderful recipes!
Warmly,
Marina
:-)ReplyCancel

Heather08/02/2015 - 1:13 pm

lady you are killin it!!

As an Ontarian, vegetarian, clean-eater, and local-produce-supporter, I CANNOT get enough of your blog. Your photos are lovely, your narrative is insightful, and everything about this website is just so great! Please keep it up!ReplyCancel

Rueith23/02/2015 - 8:32 pm

I’m sorry but I’m a bacon lover. I admit it. And I’m far from vegan. I just made your Morroccan Chickpea stew and if I had to choose between bacon and this stew for my last meal, I would have to choose the stew. The smell alone is intoxicating. Thank you from a meat eating food lover.ReplyCancel

[…] Laura Wright, the cooking genius behind natural food blog The First Mess. This Niagara native claims to have “an embarrassing collection of cookbooks and […]ReplyCancel

Joanna29/05/2015 - 7:49 am

After having a long list of minor health complaints (as I call them), I started a sugar free, modified vegan diet. Most importantly I wanted to incorporate lots of good veggies and non-animal proteins to fuel me and my detox. I am having a hard time getting my new “proteins” incorporate and was feeling a little defeated. I came across one of your tofu recipes on Pinterest and your amazing blog and am rejuvenated again! Can’t wait to try these wonderful recipes! Thank you for sharing all the creativity God has blessed you with! Blessings to you!ReplyCancel

Tess Benger12/06/2015 - 9:09 am

My boyfriend and I live in the Niagara Region too! Crazy! We are actors at the Shaw Festival! We just happened to stumble across your blog while looking for a moroccan stew recipe! It was sensational!!! Thank you! We are going to try to make many more this summer!!ReplyCancel

[…] Laura Wright at The First Mess shares my potluck philosophy: “Make it pretty, make it familiar, but also a lil’ fresh and new again = guaranteed potluck success.” Perhaps it’s why she loved these Miso and Molasses Baked Beans, which are deeply savory and vegan. […]ReplyCancel

Hi Laura! First of all, I love your recipes- They have converted my not-very-vegventurous boyfriend into someone who gets excited about lentils (no joke). Here’s to many more years of inspiration! Second, I love the marble (I think?) backdrop you’ve been using lately: Is it a counter, or a slab cutting board of some sort?

Hey Alexis,
Thank you so much for the lentil love :) And it’s a slab that I got at Crate & Barrel!
-LReplyCancel

Teresa S24/04/2017 - 6:44 pm

My husband came home from work today and showed me your cookbook on Amazon and asked if I’d like it for Mother’s Day-and apologized that it wouldn’t be a surprise! I love your blog and started following you on IG &FB. Can’t wait for your book to arrive!ReplyCancel

I’m in food service industry for over 30 years.
I’m a Vegan 15 months strong.
Your blog is gorgeous and inspiring.
Keep doing what you are doing.
Off to find your cookbook also a hoarder of cookbooks!
Best to you!ReplyCancel

Christine16/12/2017 - 4:17 pm

Bought your book from a recommend from a friend. LOVE it. I have prepared many of the recipes and all have been enjoyed. I appreciated the reasonable list of accessible ingredients, the plant based focus, the originality in complex flavors. Thank you! I am now following you here. Keep it up, you make me look like a genius!ReplyCancel

Robin clements06/01/2018 - 10:14 pm

Thank you!!!! I love your blog. I convinced my whole family to do the whole30 with me. However, we don’t eat meat so it has been challenging. You can only eat so many eggs and Greek yogurt.
We couldn’t do it without your recipes! My family doesn’t feel deprived at all. Every evening my husband and children are in awe of what I’ve made for dinner. Thank you for helping us get through!!ReplyCancel

Melanie07/04/2018 - 11:58 pm

I discovered your recipes by seeing your beautiful book at Chapters. The book is stunning but the recipes are even better! I just can’t get enough! So many plant-based recipes are bland, but yours are always so delicious! Any chance we can expect a second mess cookbook in the near future?! Thank you for everything you do and making our lives more delicious!ReplyCancel

Pearl Paul10/04/2018 - 1:20 pm

i am also from Niagara – so lovely to find you while searching for what to do with a pile of navy beans I just cooked up…. I was looking to subscribe but clicking on the suscribe heading three times and it didn’t workReplyCancel

Pearl Paul10/04/2018 - 1:22 pm

ooops just figured out how to subscribe – had to drop down ( am too too old ) lol